A year before leaving her home and allegedly being held captive and abused on Long Island, 14-year-old Emmarae Gervasi was like many other teens, posting on TikTok and Instagram.
However, some of her pictures and videos should have raised red flags.
Multiple posts showed her wearing nothing more than lingerie and acting in a sexually suggestive manner. One video appeared to show her driving at 4 a.m., posted when she was just 13-years-old.
Despite barely being a teenager, Emmarae has already lived through significant issues. She had behavioral problems for some years due to a trauma she suffered in her childhood, according to her family, and had run away from home multiple times.
Emmarae had been treated at substance abuse facilities in New York and then Minnesota, where she was also admitted to juvenile detention for allegedly hitting a cop.
The middle-schooler was freed from detention with an ankle monitor into the custody of her unconventional father, Frank Gervasi – an auto detailer and amateur porn star with facial tattoos and an uncompromising attitude – in September.
The unthinkable nightmare she has been subjected to since has left her community reeling, scratching their heads as to how Emmarae, from a loving family with her teacher mother and two brothers nearby, could disappear into the hands of abusive criminals for 25 days.
Already a vulnerable person, she was failed by the authorities, teachers and parents who were allegedly monitoring her, apparently lured through social media by a predator then allegedly hidden in a series of dingy hideaways to keep her from being found.
Frank had no idea she’d run away from his Patchogue house on Dec. 09, wearing no shoes and a T-shirt and into a dark world no teenager should be exposed to.
Emmarae was last seen entering a blue Honda car, telling her stepmom she was going to fetch something from a truck in the driveway.
The next time her father saw her was when he rescued her from a luxury yacht docked at Whitecap Marina, in a solo vigilante mission on Jan. 03.
Frank had tirelessly tried to find his daughter, through a missing person campaign and trawling the local area daily – offering a reward of $15,000 for her safe return.
He was able to recover her after an anonymous tip off from a woman – who now stands charged, along with seven others, with crimes ranging from kidnap, rape and sexual assault to sex trafficking and endangerment of a minor.
Making the whole thing worse, on Tuesday a 42-year-old employee of the children’s mental health facility where Emmarae was sent in order to recover from her ordeal was also accused of having sexual contact with her.
Deshaun McClean was charged with criminal sexual conduct Tuesday after police investigated a statement from the teen and surveillance footage from the facility, Newsday was first to report.
Other details of what happened to Emmarae have emerged through legal proceedings, police statements and interviews Frank has given – with him often being strikingly honest about his daughter.
After leaving her father’s home, Emmarae got into the car of 35-year-old Alton Harrell, who she had met online, according to her father, who said shortly after that time her court-ordered ankle monitor was cut off.
Prosecutors allege Harrell kept her in an abandoned house in Bellport for 24 hours. Worryingly, a source claimed to The Post Harrell had been in contact with Gervasi since she was 13 and knew her age, based on texts they had seen between the two.
Over the next few days Emmarae was then involved with various others, according to police, including Kevin McDonald, 20, and two much older men, Daniel Burke, 63, and Robert Eccleston, 61. They allegedly took her to a trailer home and a garage and held her “where she was unlikely to be found,” according to court papers.
All four men have since been charged with sexual offences by prosecutors, to which they have pleaded not guilty.
From Dec. 13 until her rescue, Emmarae was allegedly located on the 56-foot yacht Phoenix, with 64-year-old unmarried drifter Francis Buckheit, known as Frank.
Court documents claim Emmarae was kept “behind netting” on the boat, out of sight. Buckheit also allegedly told her he planned to take her out of state to the Carolinas, according to prosecutors.
Buckheit is now charged with rape, kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the indictment against him. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently being held without bail.
During her time on the boat, prosecutors also allege two women, Elizabeth Hunter, 34, and 52-year-old Jacquelyn Comiskey – described as a grandmother – also took advantage of her, with the latter offering Emmarae to Bunice Knight, 47, in exchange for drugs.
Comiskey, Hunter and Knight also now face serious sexual offence charges, and have pleaded not guilty.
Frank Gervasi told The Post it was Comiskey who allegedly tipped him off to his daughter’s whereabouts.
Once at the marina, he had encountered her and a male companion as well as his daughter, whom he said appeared dehydrated and “out of it.”
Comiskey admitted to Frank she “drove the girl around” the night before, leading him to suspect she was involved in her disappearance and refusing to hand over the reward money.
Throughout his rescue attempts Frank had relayed all the tips he received to police and called them as he drove to the marina. That same day arrests of those allegedly involved were made.
Suffolk County police said they can’t comment on the case as it is still an active investigation.
During the time she was missing Emmarae had been taking drugs, sources said, and she also said one of the people she encountered allegedly gave her a “fat lip.”
Since her rescue, she has been getting treatment in a secure recovery facility, sources told The Post.
The rescue has brought much relief to her family. Her mother, Melissa Dervay – who lives in Melville with her sons, teenage older brothers to Emmarae – had previously described how painful getting through Christmas without her had been to news site Greater Long Island.
The special needs teacher, 48, described how her daughter had been on a flag football team and earned straight As in her first year of middle school.
However, Emmarae after suffering the “personal traumatic event” which caused her life to spiral out of control she was “targeted by exploitative individuals who manipulated her into using drugs,” Greater Long Island reported.
That left Emmarae scarred and she started to act out, running away and displaying behavioral problems, sources told The Post.
While her mother preferred to rely on police to help find her daughter, Frank – who divorced Emmarae’s mother in 2014 and has full custody of his daughter – has been more pro-active throughout the frantic search and since.
“You guys think it’s cool to destroy a 14-year-old’s life,” he said in a video posted to YouTube two weeks after Emmarae was rescued.
“It’s easy to drop comments about my pornos that I made a few years ago – which, who gives a s–t anyway? Those are consensual adults – has nothing to do with me being a father, nothing to do with my family at all … As fathers we need to show up for our family, our people.
“Shame on you [online commenters] for judging my poor daughter, she’s a human being. You guys are sitting here knocking a 14-year-old girl who has some issues. You are a weak human being,” he added.
It remains to be seen if Emmarae will be returned to her father’s custody once she has recovered. Meanwhile, police are still investigating the case.
Lawyers for many of the defendants have indicated they will be seeking to prove Emmarae was not held captive as part of their defense.
Buckheit’s attorney, Michael Ross, noted during his arraignment the teen claimed “[Francis] bought her a phone to call drug dealers,” and denied she was held against her will.
He said the girl’s witness statement is a “sad, horrible tale of a girl who is very lost in life,’” whom he accused of “traveling across Suffolk County smoking crack and being with various people.”
However, regardless of the choices made, as a minor Emmarae was not old enough to consent to any alleged sexual contact or illegal behavior.
Sources tell The Post Emmarae is a sweet girl who has been through more trauma than most at a young age, and they hope those who have taken advantage of her are brought to justice and that she can get treatment and start her life over again.
